For visitors to the Winter Olympics, Sochi may feel like a landscape from a dream — familiar and strange at once. Palm trees evoke a tropical seaside resort, but the Black Sea itself is seriously cold; turn away from the palms and the jagged, snow-covered peaks of the Caucasus Mountains rise nearby. Lively and garish modern buildings mix with Stalin Gothic piles, like trophy wives on the arms of elderly men. Billboards are written in an alphabet where some letters sound exactly like you think they do, others mean something else and the rest are flat-out alien.
What may seem oddest of all is the city’s cheerful and relaxed aura in a country stereotyped as dour. Even a local statue of Vladimir Lenin catches the casual vibe. He’s not haranguing the masses, just standing under some trees with one hand in his pocket as if he’s killing time waiting for a date.
Rather like New York City, Sochi is a sprawling municipality, incorporating four boroughs. Confusingly, one of the four is called Sochi. So it’s possible to both be in Sochi and say “I’m going to Sochi.”
All the Olympic events take place in the Adler borough, though the snow sports venues are often referred to as being in specific settlements such as Krasnaya Polyana and Esto-Sadok.
Sochi borough is more or less the Manhattan of the city, home to the best restaurants, coolest clubs and the main cultural institutions. The urban part of Adler also has attractive restaurants.
But while its attractions are relatively cosmopolitan, and its coastline is 90 miles long (145 kilometers), Sochi is not a big city population-wise, with only about 350,000 inhabitants.
Volunteer staff at Olympics test events spoke excellent English and sometimes struck up conversations just to improve their skills (or show off). But outside the Olympic venues and large hotels, communication in languages other than Russian is likely to be difficult. The Games’ organizing committee recommends that mobile device users download a translation app.
The Cyrillic alphabet isn’t as hard as it may look, and spending a couple of hours to master it brings sizeable rewards. Russian has many loanwords from English, French and German, so being able to sound out words can make the place pop into better focus. For example, knowing that “teatp” is pronounced “teater,” it’s a reasonable and correct guess that it means “theater.” Note that bars advertising “xayc” are offering “house” music and not a homey atmosphere.
Rain, snow, sun, fog, warmish, cold — a few days at the Olympics likely will include them all. On the coast, where the ice sports and opening and closing ceremonies take place, daytime temperatures should be around 50 F (10 C) and freezing is unlikely. In the mountains, temperatures generally don’t get severely cold; at the lower elevations, where ski-jumping and sliding sports take place, the prospect of rain and above-freezing temperatures is a concern.
Russian cooking can be hard on the waistline but good for the taste buds. Even nominally low-calorie soups such as the beet-based borscht boost their count when a typical large dollop of sour cream is added. Pelmeni, dumplings filled with minced meat or vegetables, meet almost everyone’s taste. Entrees often come without additional items, so potatoes and other vegetables must be ordered separately.
Sochi also a good place to sample the food of nearby Georgia, including the renowned cheese-filled hot bread called khachapuri and tsatsivi, chicken in walnut sauce, and the plum-based soup kharcho.
Downtown Sochi and Adler both have long and appealing seaside promenades, complete with tacky souvenir stands, and restaurants. Sochi also has an attractive passenger harbor, whose spired terminal is one of the city’s standout buildings, and an art museum.
The most idiosyncratic attraction may be Sochi’s extensive mountainside botanical garden, the Dendrarium, with an unusual array of plants showing the variable climate.
Sochi has long been a choice destination for Russia’s political elite. Joseph Stalin’s summer residence in Zeleni Mys even features a wax mannequin of the dictator at his desk.
A swim in the Black Sea may make an unusual Winter Olympics memory. The beaches are stony and the water temperature will be around 50 F (10 C); concerns have been raised about pollution in the sea around Dagomys, north of downtown Sochi. Although most of Sochi’s sports facilities will be devoted to the games, the Gornaya Karusel ski area expects to have some slopes open to the public, organizers say.
A classic Russian way to while away an afternoon is a trip to the banya, like a sauna but somewhat steamier. If your hotel doesn’t have one, it can likely recommend a good one nearby. A proper trip to the banya involves several hours of repeatedly heating up and cooling down, along with snacking and having a few drinks.
Local tourist agencies offer other excursions. These include day trips to the separatist Georgian region of Abkhazia, but visitors will need a double-entry Russian visa to get back into Sochi, and travel to the rest of Georgia is forbidden to those who come to Abkhazia from the Russian side.
A trip to Sochi can be a jumping-off point for exploring other parts of Russia, notably Moscow and St. Petersburg. Unless there’s time to spare or the spirit of adventure overtakes you, the train isn’t a good option. The fastest train from Sochi to Moscow takes a full 24 hours; St. Petersburg is another half-day beyond.
February is the most severe of the winter months in both Moscow and St. Petersburg and visitors to these cities should be prepared for temperatures colder than anything they’re likely to experience even in the mountains of Sochi.
From palm trees to snow: Winter Olympics’ Sochi
From palm trees to snow: Winter Olympics’ Sochi
French prisoner who escaped in inmate’s bag detained
LYON: A 20-year-old French prisoner who escaped last week in the luggage of his fellow inmate when he was released was arrested Monday near the eastern city of Lyon, prosecutors said.
The man was arrested while emerging from a cellar early on Monday in Corbas near Lyon, they said, adding that his fellow prisoner accomplice had not yet been arrested.
The prisoner escaped on Friday. He was serving time for murder as part of a criminal gang and breaching a weapons law.
Princess of Wales hands out trophy to Jannik Sinner after Wimbledon final against Carlos Alcaraz
- Kate is the patron of the All England Club and presented the winner’s trophy to Sinner after he beat Alcaraz 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 on Center Court
LONDON: Kate, the Princess of Wales, returned to Wimbledon on Sunday along with her husband Prince William and two of their children to watch the men’s final between Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner.
Kate is the patron of the All England Club and presented the winner’s trophy to Sinner after he beat Alcaraz 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 on Center Court. The princess has been gradually resuming her public duties following cancer treatment and was at Wimbledon for a second straight day. On Saturday, she attended the women’s final and gave champion Iga Swiatek her prize after a 6-0, 6-0 victory and offered consoling words to runner-up Amanda Anisimova.
On Sunday the British royals were joined by King Felipe VI of Spain, a number of former Wimbledon champions and a slew of Hollywood celebrities.
Actors Keira Knightley, Matthew McConaughey, Nicole Kidman and John Lithgow were all seated in the Royal Box, as was London Mayor Sadiq Khan.
William and Kate arrived at the All England Club together with their oldest son, Prince George, and daughter Princess Charlotte. Before the men’s final, they spent some time chatting with Julian Cash and Lloyd Glasspool, who on Saturday became the first all-British duo in 89 years to win the men’s doubles title at Wimbledon.
Last year, while recovering from cancer, Kate did not attend the women’s final but was on hand for Alcaraz’s win against Novak Djokovic at the All England Club.
This week she also welcomed French President Emmanuel Macron during a state visit to Britain.
Gisele Pelicot and Pharrell Williams get France’s top honor
- Gisele Pelicot, who became a feminist icon by publicly testifying over the mass rapes she endured
- Rapper-turned-fashion designer Pharrell Williams were among 589 people awarded France’s top civic honor on Sunday
PARIS: Gisele Pelicot, who became a feminist icon by publicly testifying over the mass rapes she endured, and rapper-turned-fashion designer Pharrell Williams were among 589 people awarded France’s top civic honor on Sunday.
Pelicot, 72, and Williams were both named knights of the Legion of Honour on a list announced ahead of France’s July 14 national day.
Pelicot earned international tributes for her courage in testifying at a trial in 2024 against her former husband, who drugged her and arranged for her to be raped by dozens of men over a decade.
She has since been named on lists of the world’s most influential people by international media and the case helped forced a change in France’s rape law.
But Pelicot has remained silent since the trial. Her lawyer says she is concentrating on writing a book giving her side of the mass rape story which is to be released in 2026.
Williams, 52, made his name as a rapper and singer but earned a second fortune as a music producer and after designing clothes and accessories for several brands. He has been Louis Vuitton’s men’s creative director since 2023.
His recent Paris show attracted a host of international celebrities, including Jay Z and Beyonce, film directors Steve McQueen and Spike Lee and football and basketball stars.
Actor Lea Drucker, veteran singer Sylvie Vartan, writer Marc Levy and Auschwitz deportee Yvette Levy, 99, were also among the figures awarded the Legion of Honour along with a host of former ministers, academics and top legal names.
Hungary’s oldest library is fighting to save 100,000 books from a beetle infestation
- The 1,000-year-old Pannonhalma Archabbey is a sprawling Benedictine monastery that is one of Hungary’s oldest centers of learning and a UNESCO World Heritage site
PANNONHALMA, Hungary: Tens of thousands of centuries-old books are being pulled from the shelves of a medieval abbey in Hungary in an effort to save them from a beetle infestation that could wipe out centuries of history.
The 1,000-year-old Pannonhalma Archabbey is a sprawling Benedictine monastery that is one of Hungary’s oldest centers of learning and a UNESCO World Heritage site.
Restoration workers are removing about 100,000 handbound books from their shelves and carefully placing them in crates, the start of a disinfection process that aims to kill the tiny beetles burrowed into them.
The drugstore beetle, also known as the bread beetle, is often found among dried foodstuffs like grains, flour and spices. But they also are attracted to the gelatin and starch-based adhesives found in books.
They have been found in a section of the library housing around a quarter of the abbey’s 400,000 volumes.
“This is an advanced insect infestation which has been detected in several parts of the library, so the entire collection is classified as infected and must be treated all at the same time,” said Zsófia Edit Hajjdu, the chief restorer on the project. “We’ve never encountered such a degree of infection before.”
Abbey houses historical treasures
The beetle invasion was first detected during a routine library cleaning. Employees noticed unusual layers of dust on the shelves and then saw that holes had been burrowed into some of the book spines. Upon opening the volumes, burrow holes could be seen in the paper where the beetles chewed through.
The abbey at Pannonhalma was founded in 996, four years before the establishment of the Hungarian Kingdom. Sitting upon a tall hill in northwestern Hungary, the abbey houses the country’s oldest collection of books, as well as many of its earliest and most important written records.
For over 1,000 years, the abbey has been among the most prominent religious and cultural sites in Hungary and all of Central Europe, surviving centuries of wars and foreign incursions such as the Ottoman invasion and occupation of Hungary in the 16th century.
Ilona Asvanyi, director of the Pannonhalma Archabbey library, said she is “humbled” by the historical and cultural treasures the collection holds whenever she enters.
“It is dizzying to think that there was a library here a thousand years ago, and that we are the keepers of the first book catalogue in Hungary,” she said.
Among the library’s most outstanding works are 19 codices, including a complete Bible from the 13th century. It also houses several hundred manuscripts predating the invention of the printing press in the mid-15th century and tens of thousands of books from the 16th century.
While the oldest and rarest prints and books are stored separately and have not been infected, Asvanyi said any damage to the collection represents a blow to cultural, historical and religious heritage.
“When I see a book chewed up by a beetle or infected in any other way, I feel that no matter how many copies are published and how replaceable the book is, a piece of culture has been lost,” she said.
Books will spend weeks in an oxygen-free environment
To kill the beetles, the crates of books are being placed into tall, hermetically sealed plastic sacks from which all oxygen is removed. After six weeks in the pure nitrogen environment, the abbey hopes all the beetles will be destroyed.
Before being reshelved, each book will be individually inspected and vacuumed. Any book damaged by the pests will be set aside for later restoration work.
Climate change may have contributed
The abbey, which hopes to reopen the library at the beginning of next year, believes the effects of climate change played a role in spurring the beetle infestation as average temperatures rise rapidly in Hungary.
Hajjdu, the chief restorer, said higher temperatures have allowed the beetles to undergo several more development cycles annually than they could in cooler weather.
“Higher temperatures are favorable for the life of insects,” she said. “So far we’ve mostly dealt with mold damage in both depositories and in open collections. But now I think more and more insect infestations will appear due to global warming.”
The library’s director said life in a Benedictine abbey is governed by a set of rules in use for nearly 15 centuries, a code that obliges them to do everything possible to save its vast collection.
“It says in the Rule of Saint Benedict that all the property of the monastery should be considered as of the same value as the sacred vessel of the altar,” Asvanyi said. “I feel the responsibility of what this preservation and conservation really means.”
The biggest piece of Mars on Earth is going up for auction in New York
- The natural history-themed sale on Wednesday features a 54-pound hunk of Mars estimated at $2 million to $4 million
NEW YORK: For sale: A 54-pound (25-kilogram) rock. Estimated auction price: $2 million to $4 million. Why so expensive? It’s the largest piece of Mars ever found on Earth.
Sotheby’s in New York will be auctioning what’s known as NWA 16788 on Wednesday as part of a natural history-themed sale that also includes a juvenile Ceratosaurus dinosaur skeleton that’s more than 6 feet (2 meters) tall and nearly 11 feet (3 meters) long.
According to the auction house, the meteorite is believed to have been blown off the surface of Mars by a massive asteroid strike before traveling 140 million miles (225 million kilometers) to Earth, where it crashed into the Sahara. A meteorite hunter found it in Niger in November 2023, Sotheby’s says.
The red, brown and gray hunk is about 70 percent larger than the next largest piece of Mars found on Earth and represents nearly 7 percent of all the Martian material currently on this planet, Sotheby’s says. It measures nearly 15 inches by 11 inches by 6 inches (375 millimeters by 279 millimeters by 152 millimeters).
“This Martian meteorite is the largest piece of Mars we have ever found by a long shot,” Cassandra Hatton, vice chairman for science and natural history at Sotheby’s, said in an interview. “So it’s more than double the size of what we previously thought was the largest piece of Mars.”
It is also a rare find. There are only 400 Martian meteorites out of the more than 77,000 officially recognized meteorites found on Earth, Sotheby’s says.
Hatton said a small piece of the red planet remnant was removed and sent to a specialized lab that confirmed it is from Mars. It was compared with the distinct chemical composition of Martian meteorites discovered during the Viking space probe that landed on Mars in 1976, she said.
The examination found that it is an “olivine-microgabbroic shergottite,” a type of Martian rock formed from the slow cooling of Martian magma. It has a course-grained texture and contains the minerals pyroxene and olivine, Sotheby’s says.
It also has a glassy surface, likely due to the high heat that burned it when it fell through Earth’s atmosphere, Hatton said. “So that was their first clue that this wasn’t just some big rock on the ground,” she said.
The meteorite previously was on exhibit at the Italian Space Agency in Rome. Sotheby’s did not disclose the owner.
It’s not clear exactly when the meteorite hit Earth, but testing shows it probably happened in recent years, Sotheby’s said.
The juvenile Ceratosaurus nasicornis skeleton was found in 1996 near Laramie, Wyoming, at Bone Cabin Quarry, a gold mine for dinosaur bones. Specialists assembled nearly 140 fossil bones with some sculpted materials to recreate the skeleton and mounted it so it’s ready to exhibit, Sotheby’s says.
The skeleton is believed to be from the late Jurassic period, about 150 million years ago, Sotheby’s says. It’s auction estimate is $4 million to $6 million.
Ceratosaurus dinosaurs were bipeds with short arms that appear similar to the Tyrannosaurus rex, but smaller. Ceratosaurus dinosaurs could grow up to 25 feet (7.6 meters) long, while the Tyrannosaurs rex could be 40 feet (12 meters) long.
The skeleton was acquired last year by Fossilogic, a Utah-based fossil preparation and mounting company.
Wednesday’s auction is part of Sotheby’s Geek Week 2025 and features 122 items, including other meteorites, fossils and gem-quality minerals.
